Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 1104 1099 [The Emperor Retired - Yao and Shun of the Time]

The first railway is 50 miles long, and the next two or three years will be in the trial operation stage.

The Ministry of Industry will leave technical officials here to constantly discover and solve problems, and try to continue to improve the performance of the train.

When the technology is almost accumulated, the construction of the second railway will be prepared.

The location of the second railway has been decided: Nanyang-Fangcheng-Ye County.

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, an attempt was made to build a canal on this route to connect the Yangtze River and the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Once the water system is opened, the materials from Sichuan, Hubei and Hanzhong can be directly shipped north to Kaifeng.

Unfortunately, the construction has been started, stopped, started again, and stopped again, and it has been repaired intermittently for decades.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Guoxiang was the emperor, he asked water conservancy experts to conduct on-site inspections, and the final conclusion was that it was still difficult to repair.

Now there is a new idea, to connect directly with the railway!

At that time, the county seat of Ye County was in Yeyi Town, which was more than 28 miles further south than in later generations. There was a Lishui River that went directly to Yancheng, and then connected to Caihe River and went directly to Kaifeng City.

After the completion of this railway, Sichuan's money and grain materials were first transported to Jiangling for storage, and then went north along the canal in the Jingjiang section, and the ships turned into the Han River and arrived in Xiangyang. Then they went to Nanyang via Baihe in Xiangyang. When they arrived in Nanyang, they switched to train transportation, passed Fangcheng to Ye County and took the waterway again, and were transported to the treasury warehouse outside Kaifeng City by ship.

The railway is not long, only more than 180 miles.

But it can save the materials of Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan and Hanzhong from more than 2,000 miles of waterway, without having to go to Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Huai'an, and Shangqiu to make a big detour!

If the Dali Kingdom was destroyed ten years later, Duan Yu would also take this section of the train when he was escorted to Luoyang.

Why did the Northern Song Dynasty toss here for decades and want to build the "Nanyang-Ye County" canal? It is to save more than 2,000 miles.

This is the real use of railways in the early stages of development, that is, to connect various water networks in key areas.

A huge profit!

At present, prospectors are frantically exploring coal mines there.

If the Pingdingshan coal mine is found, it is estimated that the railway plan will be changed again. That is, it will be extended to the north for dozens of miles to the vicinity of the coal mine, where there is also a river that can connect to the Cai River to Kaifeng.

…

After the test run was successful, Zhu Guoxiang returned to Luoyang happily, and all the civil and military officials came to greet him after hearing the news.

They really missed the emperor.

Even this kind of miss, without much interest, is purely respect for the emperor.

Especially the young and middle-aged officials in their thirties and forties, some of whom have never seen the emperor, but have already sanctified the emperor in their minds. Contemporary Yao and Shun!

"Your subjects bow to the emperor!"

It was agreed that they were not allowed to kneel casually, but more than a dozen young Beijing officials knelt down in the street and bowed to Zhu Guoxiang. Moreover, his eyes were filled with tears, and his voice was trembling when he spoke, as if he had seen an elder who had passed away.

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said, "Stand up and talk. Kneeling and crying, it's not too late to do such a great ceremony after I die."

"I dare not!"

The officials who were kneeling were frightened and stood up quickly, and then peeked at what the emperor looked like.

The dock was temporarily blocked by soldiers, and the common people wanted to come but were stopped. People stood on tiptoe and looked far away, and from time to time, the people standing behind would jump and stretch their necks to look forward.

Zhu Guoxiang turned around and bowed to the crowd in the distance, and countless people immediately shouted long live.

Such a situation made the officials sigh, thinking that the ancient sage king was no more than this.

Accompanied by civil and military officials, Zhu Guoxiang came to the East Outer City of the Imperial City, and took the imperial carriage to go straight to the Chuigong Hall. Liang Yi and other close officials were invited by Zhu Guoxiang to ride in the same carriage, which moved them to tears.

In the Chuigong Hall, Zhu Ming was busy reviewing memorials.

When Zhu Guoxiang arrived, the eunuchs, female officials, and civil servants all left, even the recorder who wrote the daily record withdrew.

Taking off his hat and throwing it away, Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Have the Dunhuang posthumous books been sent back to Luoyang?"

Zhu Ming glanced at him and said: "You have more white hair. Last time, you had gray hair on your temples, but now your hair is almost all white."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I can't tell how old I am. Anyway, my energy and physical strength have been declining in recent years, and the wrinkles on my face have gradually increased. I caught a cold last winter, and it took me a month to get better after taking medicine."

Zhu Ming said: "When I sent you a telegram, the Dunhuang posthumous books had just been transported to Chang'an. It is estimated that they will be in Luoyang in a few days."

Jingzhao Prefecture has been renamed Chang'an Prefecture, and did not adopt Zhu Yuanzhang's Xi'an Prefecture.

In fact, it doesn't matter how it is changed. There has never been a "Chang'an Prefecture" in history. From the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, there was only "Chang'an County", which was nothing more than the difference between "Jingzhao Prefecture" and "Anxi Road" and then "Xi'an Prefecture".

When the population of Ningxia Province recovers, Shaanxi and Ningxia will be split again, because both provinces are too big!

The entire Hexi Corridor, plus Bayannur, Alxa, Baotou, Ordos... all belong to Ningxia Province, and the Hexi Corridor must be split out.

And the northeastern region of Qinghai, as well as Lanzhou, Tianshui, Qingyang, Longnan... all belong to Shaanxi Province, and some of them must also be split out.

The territory split from the two provinces is naturally the establishment of Gansu Province.

Moreover, the Gansu Province established by the Ming Dynasty later included the elite areas of Qinghai Province in later generations. Even Xining, the provincial capital of Qinghai, belongs to Gansu Province! The imperial court will also hand over all the Tibetan and Uighur tribes in Qinghai to Gansu Province, and only major events require the imperial court's opinion.

After chatting about some administrative division issues in the northwest, the father and son talked about Yunnan and Guizhou.

Bai Qi was transferred to the title of King of Guizhou and granted 3,000 households, while Shishi granted 2,000 additional households. In addition, the official Taifu and Shangzhuguo were added, and their military ranks were also promoted by two levels, and they were specially named as generals in the south.

In addition, he also granted permission to his descendants. If the title is reduced to marquis, there is no need to reduce it any more. For a little meritorious service, he can be re-titled as a county prince, a county prince, a country prince, or even a county king again.

This is the imperial court's encouragement to Bai Qi's descendants to achieve meritorious service and promotion, especially to encourage them to continue to expand their territory in the south!

In history, the Mu family not only guarded Yunnan, they had been encroaching on foreign lands southward. It's just that those newly occupied lands often became the Mu family's private land, because they were too barbaric and the court could not set up officials.

Why was a prince who ruled Yunnan for a long time not be named the King of Dian but the King of Guizhou?

If you look at the Mu family in Yunnan, you will know that the Mu family is hereditary Duke of Guizhou, not hereditary Duke of Dian.

The imperial court would never allow a prince, prince or duke with military power to live in their own fiefdom for a long time. Therefore, Bai Qi could only guard Yunnan as the king of Guizhou.

Generals such as Yang Zaixing and Lin Chong also received rewards. Yang Zaixing's military rank even rose to the second rank, which was only slightly lower than Lin Chong's second rank.

This is very rare. Lin Chong came from Long Xungui, and Yang Zaixing only took refuge when Zhong Xiang was destroyed.

Ju Ming suddenly said: "Japan is going to change."

"Japan?" Zhu Guoxiang was quite curious.

Ju Ming said: "Taira Kiyomori, who has studied abroad in Kaifeng and Luoyang for several years, not only gained a lot of official positions by exterminating pirates last year, but also took control of the Seto Inland Sea. From now on, Japan will gain access to Sino-Japanese trade. Half of the profits will be taken away by the Ping clan. If the Ping clan continues to develop for ten years, its strength will soar to suppress the Japanese king. "

Zhu Guoxiang understood instantly: "Japan is going to have a civil war."

Ju Ming smiled and said: "The King of Japan must be afraid of the Taira clan, and will most likely instigate the Genji clan to fight with the Taira clan. Once the conflict between the two sides completely intensifies, the Taira and Yuan families will have to turn from political fighting to military confrontation. The Japanese king cannot fall, and Japan must endure forever. One system, otherwise Japan can break free.”

If we follow the normal historical trajectory, the Emperor of Japan will naturally exist forever, and the Genpei war will only create the Kamakura shogunate.

But things are different now. The Ping clan, which controls the Seto Inland Sea, can earn more profits, smuggle weapons and equipment from the Ming Dynasty, and obtain various science, culture and technology.

Ju Ming even suspected that Taira Kiyomori was secretly developing firearms.

The butt determines the head. Taira Kiyomori controls the Seto Inland Sea, so he must support Sino-Japanese trade, and he must be a staunch "pro-Mei" element. What's more, after studying in China for several years, Taira Kiyomori highly praised everything in China.

If this guy overthrows Genji by force, will he be hot-headed and force the Emperor of Japan to abdicate?

After all, Taira Kiyomori’s current idol is Ju Ming.

Ping Qingmeng knew very well how Emperor Zhu captured the country. He didn't want to learn from Emperor Zhu, not to mention that he had a higher starting point than Emperor Zhu, because the Ping family itself belonged to a branch of the Japanese imperial family.

If it really gets to that point, Ming Dynasty must send troops to intervene, and the Japanese Emperor who has become the King of Heaven cannot be allowed to fall.

Since Ming Dynasty took action to save the emperor, should Japan repay the favor? It’s not too much to cede Kyushu Island to the Ming Dynasty, right? There are also many gold, silver and copper mines there.

Zhu Guoxiang was speechless and complained: "Ceding the entire Kyushu Island is equivalent to crippling Japan. You really have a huge appetite."

"The main reason is that I'm interested in the mines there. There are all gold, silver and copper mines, and there are more than one or two," said Ju Ming. "Japan's prospecting technology is not developed, so many mines cannot be discovered right under your nose. I do It is reasonable to do good things and send people to explore and mine.”

What America are you exploring?

Mining Douchi directly from Japan.

As the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade became more and more prosperous, not only was there no inflation, but there was always a shortage of metal currency, and some areas even experienced deflation contrary to common sense. On the one hand, this is because big businessmen are hoarding large quantities of coins, and on the other hand, neighboring countries have adopted Ming currency.

Ju Ming could only continue to issue more banknotes to regulate the currency market.

Unexpectedly, because the credibility of the Ming Dynasty Bao Banknotes was so high, those guys even hoarded the banknotes, and even the Ming Dynasty Bao Banknotes could be traded in Southeast Asia without any hindrance. If Ju Ming didn't dare to issue banknotes indiscriminately, he would have to cut off a lot of money.

To destroy the Dali Kingdom, in addition to expansion, the most important thing is to capture the Yunnan copper mines.

In the future, it will interfere in Japan's internal affairs and force Japan to cede Kyushu Island for the sake of the gold, silver and copper mines there. Otherwise, what's the point of using that crappy place?

Zhu Guoxiang chatted with his son for a while, then took Luoyang's grandson and granddaughter in his arms.

A few days later, the Dunhuang suicide note arrived in Beijing.